A1A Software Names Lift Plan of the Year Winners

July 11, 2022 – A1A Software LLC has named the winners of its 2021 Lift Plan of the Year Competition.

The awards program is for companies that use A1A Software’s 3D Lift Plan as a sales tool, for bid proposals, crane selection and setup, lift planning, and documentation.

Submitted projects were jobs completed last year.

First place went to Hunter Lash, Nichols Crane Rental, Joliet, Illinois.

Second place was awarded to Riley Pettrone, La Grange Crane Service, La Grange, Illinois.

Third place went to Brent Genseke, Area Erectors, Rockford, Illinois.

Eight entries were selected as finalists, then voting was opened to the public.

“The competition focuses on the creative and practical use of 3D Lift plan to solve jobsite challenges,” said Tawnia Weiss, president of A1A Software. “Features and capabilities of 3D Lift Plan are constantly evolving, and it’s interesting to see these tools applied to real projects.”

First-Place Project

First place winner, Lash, used 3D Lift Plan for pre-planning a new fieldhouse for Rich South High School. The program ensured efficiency, coordination with other contractors and trades, and jobsite safety. To make up for delays from COVID-19 , the contractors on this job had to work simultaneously to complete the project in a timely manner. That resulted in congestion on the site, which meant the original lift plan would no longer work.

“3D Lift Plan allowed us to quickly lay out a new plan and to visually show the changes,” said Lash. “We had used a combination of Google Earth images, drone footage, and site plans to accurately depict the site. The lift plan showed the build and laydown of the crane, unit staging area, and swing radius of the crane. This allowed everyone to visualize what would happen on the job site and align on how the various moving parts would work together,” he continued.

Pettrone, who received second place, used 3D Lift Plan to successfully bid on a project for the Las Campanas Observatory’s new Giant Magellan Telescope. La Grange Crane was challenged to hoist the steel super-loads through proportionately impossible roof openings on each side of the structure. The building was enclosed prior to the lift to protect the precious materials that come with telescope production.

Second-Place Project

“3D Lift Plan’s unique ability to aggregate an entire fleet’s crane configurations for maximum machine utilization landed La Grange Crane the job,” said Pettrone. “3D Lift Plan helped us figure out which crane was the best for the job.” Ultimately, they decided to use a 550-U.S.-ton Liebherr LTM 1450-8.1 with luffing jib.

Third-Place Project

Third place winner, Genseke, used 3D Lift Plan through the whole Pritzker Military Archives Center project, from the start of the bidding process until the last pieces were set.

Two sets of three cranes lifting in tandem were required to lift each of two 250’-long trusses with a seventh crane hoisting tie-in members on the steel erection. Genseke used 3D Lift Plan to provide a visualization of how all of the cranes would work in unison.

“3D Lift Plan gave us the ability to show a myriad of information, depending on what we wanted,” said Genseke. “We could easily show crane positions, available space on the ground for movement of the seventh crane between the truss cranes, swing radii, etc. Without a visual representation of these steps, it would have been nearly impossible to explain how these large machines were going to work together.”

The other finalists:

Adrian Pasma, Sterling Crane, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Ben Cork, Beenleigh Steel Fabrications, Crestmead, Australia.
Daniel Franco, Bay Ltd., Corpus Christi, Texas.
Jared Marcotte, Iron Stag Crane Service, Thomasville, Pennsylvania.
Trevor Morgan, Eagle West Crane & Rigging, Abbotsford, British Columbia.

More information about all eight 3D Lift Plan finalists can be found here.